Local News – Tuesday, October 19th, 2021

The Dent County Commissioners met Monday morning for their regular meeting at the courthouse. Dent County Treasurer Denita Williams brought in the sales tax monies received by the county this month. She reported the General Revenue and LEST Funds each received $19,369.22 which is down $53,351.02 from 2020 and year-to-date, each of those funds is down $303,460.98. She said the Road and Bridge Sales Tax Fund received $7,456.24 and that is down $26,800.01 from October of 2020. Year-to-date, the Road and Bridge Fund is down $160,898.21. These three funds were greatly impacted by a Department of Revenue reduction of $197,296 without notice due to sales taxes from 2017 that were improperly credited to Dent County. Dent County Commissioner Skiles contacted Travis Elliott, the attorney handling the case for the county, and he contacted the attorney for the Department of Revenue who stated those funds should never have been deducted from the money received by the county in October. He said those funds should be credited back to the county in November and no further reductions are to be made until after there is a hearing on January 19th to determine how the money that is owed is to be paid back to the Missouri Department of Revenue. The Jail Operating and Trust Funds were not as greatly impacted as they had just been implemented. Each of those funds received $50,331.29 and that is down $18,133.36 from last October’s receipt of $64,464.65. In the road report, District 1 Commissioner Wes Mobray said materials would be added and grading done on Dent County Road 5170, while grading will also be done on county roads 5460 and 6220. He also said a man went to Springfield to get oil for chip and seal repair this week. Travis Turner for District 2 stated materials would be added and grading done on Dent County Road 2340 while only grading would be done on county roads 2200 and 3120. He said brush would be cut on county road 2070 and rock would be added to county road 3235. Commissioner Skiles said there was a meeting with Aptitude Internet Friday at the Salem Community Center@The Armory to find out what their plans are for expanding Internet services in Dent County and most of their plans are to provide the services through elevated lines on poles. Skiles said he attended the Ozark Rivers Solid Waste Management District Executive Board meeting last Tuesday at the MRPC and said they grant requests of $290,900 and this year had $272,796 to award. Skiles said he was happy to announce the Scenic Rivers Industries were able to receive their entire grant request of $47,249. These awards must still be approved by DNR before the funds can be dispensed. Commissioner Skiles said he and Commissioner Mobray attended the South Central County Commissioners meeting in Houston on Friday and the hot topic was Senate Bill 53. Skiles was then to attend a meeting Wednesday in Jefferson City and the MRPC Annual Awards Banquet in Linn, Missouri. Dent County Clerk Angie Curley said she balanced with the collector and appraiser on all add-ons, abatements and collections for the month of September, plus she balanced with the treasurer on all accounts for September. Curley reported that she attended a Health Consortium Board meeting where it was revealed the county would be receiving a 1.7% increase in employees monthly insurance rates from $633 per month to $643.76 per month. The county approved continuing the county employee deductible program as in the past. Curley said Phil-Mart won the bid for 7,000 gallons of diesel at $2.66 per gallon. Curley also said she was working on the 2022 budget. Commissioner Skiles discussed with Commissioner Mobray the renewing of the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program agreement through the St. Louis County Health Department. This program is administered through the Dent County Health Department. It was approved by the commission. The next meeting of the Dent County Commissioners will be Monday, October 25th and the meeting is open to the public.

The Salem Memorial District Hospital Board of Directors will conduct their October meeting tonight at 6:00 in the hospital library. Hospital Administrator Kasey Lucas will report on the summary of the operations and statistics for the month of September, followed by the Chief of Nursing Report with Ashley Sullins. Chief Operating Officer Jason Edwards will give the hospital foundation report and the marketing and community perception report. In old business, Lucas will give the board an update on Covid-19, the hospital expansion and renovation, as well as the Cerner conversion. New business will include the annual review of the Governing Board Bylaws and also a review of any purchases made or that need to be made since the last meeting. The board may vote to go into closed session. The SMDH Board meeting is open to the public.